Got chatting with a guy in the creative writing program who will be in the same writing class as I. Turns out he wants to write a novel about Injun Jo, a character from Twain's Tom Sawyer. The following commences:

ME: Do you know what fanfic is?HE: Sure.ME: Question for you: Would you or would you not say that this novel idea, as it were, of yours is fanfic?HE: Uhhhh. No. It's a parallel novel. It's part of a literary tradition!ME: And that's different....how?HE: Uhhh. Because this is art? And fanfic is for entertainment?

Rationalization on his part. Of course, we'd never survive without a few rationalizations. 8D

Next question. How long does something have to exist before it's considered a tradition? Fanfic (Trek specifically) is almost if not already 50 years old. It may be the the bastard step-child of literature, but it's still part of the family.

*gigglesnort* Okay, that's kind of brilliant. I'm actually talking with some colleagues about doing a panel on fanfic for PCA next year and now I'm trying to figure out how to make that into a snappy title. *contemplates*